The adaptation of Kentucky bluegrass to high and low nitrogen
New NTEP trials make it easier to identify Kentucky bluegrasses tailored to specific fertility regimes.Hundreds of Kentucky bluegrass cultivars have come...
Powered augers: Can you dig it?
If you spend any significant amount of time digging holes, an auger should be among your essential tools. It not only will get you out from behind a shovel-which...
Non-selective products
Selective pesticides are some of the most valuable tools that turf and landscape managers have at their disposal. However, there are times when you need...
Intraseeding putting greens--does it work?
Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris) is the predominant turfgrass used on putting greens, providing a uniform, high-quality putting surface. However,...
Mulching tree leaves: an alternative to disposal
Few things are more beautiful than the changing colors of tree foliage in the fall. Unfortunately, enthusiasm for this autumn splendor is tempered by...
Transplant a tree
Occasionally, a client will ask you to move a tree from one place in their landscape to another. This can be one of the most stressful things that ever...
Researching Maintenance
Direct-injection sprayers I read recently that someone has come up with a way to load chemicals without actually having to handle the chemicals. Are you...
Times are changing...sort of
There's a cliche, that you've probably heard. It goes, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." I guess there's truth in that saying, because...
Seeds of change
The domestication and improvement of plants and animals was, and continues to be, essential to the progress and prosperity of civilization. Agricultural...
From hand clippers to string trimmers
Like most of you in the grounds-care industry, I had my fist exposure to turf maintenance when I was 9 years old and was assigned chores on the home lawn....
Researching Maintenance
Turtle Turf I am looking for information on something called Turtle Turf. Do you know what this is?--Via the internetTurtle Turf is marketed by Quality...
Hedge shears: a landscaper's best friend
Man's best friend is said to be a dog. And a dog's best friend could be a shrub. But a landscaper's best friend is surely his hedge shears. After all,...
Fell a tree with the open-notch-and-bore method
Perhaps it's not often that you must fell trees to complete a job. But a lack of practice makes it even more crucial that you know how to fell safely....
Increase golfing fun by design
Golf is adding to its already-considerable popularity. From Tiger to Sergio to the Ryder Cup, golf stories are filling the sports pages and sometimes...
Controlling thatch
Thatch is a layer of organic material, or "residue," found directly above the soil surface in turf. Within a thatch layer, living roots and shoots intermingle...
Irrigation impacts your applications
Irrigation can provide an array of benefits to any turfgrass site. Beyond merely supplying water to the grass plants, irrigation can remove dew and frost,...
Vertebrate pest controls
Vertebrate pests present challenges unlike any other landscape pests. Several issues affect control decisions, some with little direct bearing on the...
Give your batteries staying power with proper care
Batteries mystify many people. Why do some batteries last for years, while others go bad in a short time? When one is dead, how can you determine whether...
Pioneers transform hand-held equipment
Not very long ago, grounds maintenance crews did everything, except mowing, with hand tools. These weren't power tools-the crews did the work manually....
See spot run
Wet weather combined with warm days and cool nights in the spring of 2000 provided good conditions for vigorous turf growth in the Northeast. Such conditions...
Choosing the right valve
As irrigation has become more standard on jobs of all kinds across the United States, most grounds maintenance workers have acquired a basic knowledge...
Bonuses and incentives for retaining employees
Your salesman is selling high-quality new accounts. The crew leaders and their teams are providing high-quality customer service. The maintenance department...
Irrigation sensors for the landscape
I once asked a well-known author a question I thought would stop her dead in her tracks: "What is a writer?" To my surprise, she replied, "A writer is...
Basking in the sun under global warming
In the grounds-care business, the weather is a powerful factor in determining your grounds management plans, expenditures and profits. I don't think there...
Researching Maintenance
Shear agony We maintain a large apartment complex. Recently, the managers told us to stop shearing the shrubs because this was unhealthy for the plants....
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